“Statutory innocent owner defenses provide a check on the seizure power, although this burden lies with the owner, not the government.”
That is what is entirely wrong about such seizures. The burden of proof concerning the property SHOULD HAVE TO FOLLOW and be no less necessary, as far as seizures, as is the burden of proof about a crime itself. A mere accusation and arrest for a “crime” does not constitute the end-definition that an individual committed a crime because no court process has PROVED the individual guilty. The property cannot stand PROVEN guilty ahead of the individual.
The Supreme Court precedents permitting these seizures should be overturned. The property should not be able to be considered “guilty” by mere police accusation alone. It must require proof of that guilt, which must follow, not precede, conviction of the individual in court.
The seizure laws as they are now should be scrapped.
Without a conviction of an individual, their property should not be allowed to become the possession of the arresting agency or the prosecutors, in any fashion. The most they should be able to do - with strict terms of how any property qualifies - is to place the property in a custodian account held by a court, the same court where the individual will be tried, if they are tried.
If the individual is released without conviction, with or without a trial, the court should be required to immediately release their property. The law should not require the individual in that case to prove again anything, or to have to request return of the property. The request, by law, should be required to be made by the arresting agency, if there was no trial, or the prosecutors if there was. They should be liable for a civil suit and damages if they fail to make those requests.
And “immediate release” should be within 14 days. No more.